The Things That Bind Us Together
by Black Pirate
Summary: After a night of wandering, the Marauders decide to venture into Slytherin territory, the Dungeons. However, they find more then they bargen for. Strengths are tried and friendships teasted. Will the Marauders survive? T for violence.


**Just a spur of the moment thing. Hope you all enjoy! Not a one-shot. There are no male/male parings. I read through it and some people might think there would be but there isn't so if you comment about that I shall scorn you forever for not reading my notes! Anyhoo, read on, review, and enjoy!- bp**

The fire crackled merrily in the fire place. It cast a red and orange glow through the room, and its occupants. Remus Lupin was sitting in a large arm chair, an open book in his lap. Sirius Black and James Potter were dueling it out in a rough game of wizarding chess on the floor, while Peter Pettigrew watched from the couch. Several bottles of butter beer and discarded chocolate frog wrappers littered the table. Remus sighed with annoyance as James whooped in delight while Sirius groaned in frustration.

"Do you two mind?" Remus asked "I'm almost done with my book and it's kind of hard to finish with you two hooting and hollering like morons!" James looked at Remus with a grin.

"So sorry your kingship. I just had to voice my delight as I took lowly Page Sirius' king in for the fifth game in a row. You see, your mightiness, he was foolish enough to challenge me and my wizarding chess skills. It is now proven to the lowly Page Sirius that the brave Knight James' skills are no match to anyone….." the 'brave Knight James' was interrupted by 'lowly Page Sirius' throwing a pillow at him, which James caught. "You see your lordship Remus?" James continued "Nothing he does can match to my skill. Even this attempt on my life was thwarted easily, proven that lowly pages should remember that they are lowly pages and should not trifle with brave… OI! UNCALLED FOR!" Sirius had jumped on James. This resulted in a wrestling match that caused many chess pieces to be scattered to the four corners of the room. When the match moved to Remus' feet, he kicked them which sent them both sprawling.

"No fair!" exclaimed Sirius "You know you're stronger when the full moon is approaching!"

"Be quite Sirius!" Remus said anxiously, looking around, causing Sirius to laugh.

"Don't be ridiculous Moony! There's no one in the entire house but us, it's called Christmas vacation. Free reign!" Remus glared at him.

"I liked James' way of addressing me more, now both of you be quiet so I can finish my book!"

"You've been reading that thing all day!" James said. "Don't you think you need a break?"

"No, I don't, thank you." Remus said, opening it again. He didn't notice Sirius behind him until it was too late. The book was stolen. Sirius tossed it to James who read the title aloud.

"_Hogwarts, A History_." James read. He tossed it back to Sirius. "Sounds boring."

"It's really interesting!" Remus argued. He stood up and lunged for the book, but Sirius neatly side stepped him, and Remus went sprawling into Peter, who, up till now, was watching the exchange quietly, jumped up with a startled squeak. James laughed.

"Wormtail, you're not a rat right now, you don't have to squeak." Peter glared at James and muttered something incoherent. By now, Remus had untangled himself from the couch and had managed to snatch the book back from Sirius.

"Aw, Remus, you spoil all the fun!" Sirius said looking disappointedly at his now empty hands.

"No," Remus said, sitting back down in the chair "I just want to read my book!"

"Why though?" James asked, flopping down on the couch "We know enough about the current Hogwarts to get around, we don't need to know the history."

"You'd be surprised." Remus said. "This information might come in handy one day."

Sirius started walking to the portrait hole. "Well, as fascinating as this subject of conversation is, I'm going out."

"Where?" Peter asked

"Who cares?" James said while pulling Remus out of his chair "It'll get Bookworm's blood moving."

"Yeah, it will." Remus muttered "It's freezing in the halls."

"Then put another layer on."James said impatiently "Come on. Sirius has already left!" Remus sighed and followed James. He would have to get back to his book when they got back. Knowing Sirius and James, however, there was a very good chance that they wouldn't get back until dawn.

"What took you guys so long?" Sirius demanded as they exited the portrait hole.

"I had to get moody Moony out of his chair." James said with a grin, as he dodged a blow from Remus intended for his head.

"Well, we're all here now, so let's get going. ONWARD!" Sirius exclaimed, and started 'galloping' down the hallway. James rolled his eyes and followed, still pulling on Remus' sweater so he couldn't escape back to his book. Peter followed behind all of them. After about ten minutes of aimless wandering, they had reached the tenth floor. Sirius stopped suddenly.

"This is boring." he sighed "We know everything about the halls of Hogwarts."

"The halls, yes" James agreed. Sirius looked at him. James had that familiar glint of mischief in his eyes. "But we have never really gone down and fully explored the dungeons."

Peter looked at James with fear in his eyes. "That's Slytherin territory though."

James laughed. "Peter, we're in seventh year. What do you think will happen?"

"You never know…" Peter muttered trailing off.

'Right!" Sirius exclaimed, and moving aside a tapestry, he revealed four slides, all going down. He grinned. "Last one down has to make the Honeydukes run when we get back to the common room."

Remus grinned wolfishly. "You're on." He then leapt on the slide and started down. James and Sirius looked at each other, and in the space of a millisecond, silent congratulations for getting their friend on his feet and actually moving turned into a look of friendly, but dead serious competition and they both flung themselves on the slide, James head first and backwards.

Peter, as usual, was last. He hated the slides to the dungeons. They were always so dark and you could never see when you were about to stop. They had their uses though; when the four boys had two minutes to get to the Potions classroom from the tenth floor, for example. He hesitated; knowing that by now the others would have arrived at the bottom by now. Sure enough, the telltale sound of laughter and arguing floated up from the dark tunnel. Peter sighed. He might as well take the stairs, but the others would tease him to no end for it, so Peter slowly put a foot up onto one of the slides. He was just about to sit down and push himself off, when the jubilant laughter coming from below stopped with one cry of surprise and pain, and two others shouting 'expelliarmus!' and 'stupefy!' The sounds of dueling were echoing off every wall, making Peter almost think that it was going on right behind him. He hesitated. His friends were in potential danger, and one of them could be hurt. They would need his help. The sounds of shouting and spells being cast were pounding into his head. It was too much. Peter ran.

James was the first to shoot out of the tunnel. He was always first, even if he went down last, which aggravated Sirius to no end. He could never figure out James' technique, and James swore he would take it to the grave. Remus was the next to appear, shooting out and canon balling into James, who had just picked himself up. Remus laughed and stood up, pulling James with him. They were only to be knocked back down again by Sirius as he came out yelling 'Geronimo!' They all landed in a laughing, arguing, tangled up heap.

"Whoever's on me, gerroff!"

"Would if I could Moony me lad, but I believe you will have to talk to the kind fellow who is currently breaking my ribs."

"You deserve it! I won't get off until you tell your secret!"

"NEVVVVVVVVVVVVVVAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!"

"OW! Thanks for that. Now I'm deaf in one ear!"

"What?"

"Haha. Very funny. So funny, I forgot to laugh."

"Stop rolling your eyes Moony!"

"I'm not!"

"You were."

"Oi! Watch the elbow!"

"Oops. Sorry."

"No you're not!"

"Nope."

"Will you two stop arguing and get off?!"

"No."

"I'll bite you!"

"I'll transform."

"You better not! You'll have a Remus pancake if you do!"

"Sounds good."

"Hey!"

"Ok Padfoot, you really need to get off. I can't breathe."

"Fine." Sirius immerged from the tangle, soon followed by James, who was massaging his sore ribs. Remus stayed where he was, feeling decidedly flat.

James eyed him. "You know Sirius; we just might have a Remus pancake after all."

Sirius licked his lips. "Yummy! Did you bring the syrup?" They both burst into hysterical laughter. Remus rolled his eyes and got up. He looked up the tunnel, a confused expression on his face. Peter should have been down by now. A genuine cry of pain sounded behind him. Remus whirled around to see James kneeling on the floor, clutching his side, and Sirius in front of him, his wand out and ready. All at once, hooded figures leapt out on both sides. Remus sprang to the other side of James, protecting him from any more harm. Curses were raining down on all sides. Remus and Sirius were back to back, fighting their unknown enemy. Remus heard Sirius grunt and fall behind him. He was alone with his back unprotected.

"Remus, look out!" James had struggled to his feet and pushed his friend out of harm's way. The curse that was intended for Remus hit James square in the chest. He crumpled without a sound. Remus backed up to the tunnel opening. Where was Peter? The unknown enemies all fired at once. Remus couldn't block them all. He was hit, and collapsed without a sound.

It was dark. That was the first thing that Sirius saw when he opened his eyes. Or were his eyes open? He blinked. Yes, they were defiantly open. The next thing Sirius realized was that his head was _killing _him. He sat up groggily. How did he get here again? It was all coming back so slow. They were in the dungeons, something about pancakes, and James kneeling on the ground holding…. It all came back to him now. The slides, James, the fight, Remus on his own, Peter never showing up, James…. Sirius strained his eyes in the dark, trying to catch a glimpse of either of his friends. He mentally kicked himself. _Idiot_ he though and turned into Padfoot in a flash. _Much better_. He looked around and immediately spotted both his friends. Remus was the closest. Padfoot padded over to him and started to lick his face. Remus woke up spluttering.

The first thing Remus felt upon awakening was a warm, wet tongue licking his face. He jumped and shoved it away. His hand came in contact with a cold, wet nose. Remus sighed and relaxed.

"Way to hit me in the nose." Sirius' disgruntled voice sounded out from the darkness.

"Sorry." Remus muttered.

"You OK?" Sirius asked with slight concern in his voice.

"M'lright." Remus muttered again "Could you not talk so loud though, my head feels like…"

"It's been split in two?" Sirius finished "Know what you mean Mate. Same goes here."

"Where's James?" Remus asked.

"Over here." Sirius replied, and he started crawling off toward the direction James lay, at least, the direction he thought James lay. He soon found he was mistaken by coming in very close contact with a very hard stone wall. "Ouch." He said quietly, rubbing his head with a hand. Cursing his stupidity again, Padfoot found the familiar sent that was James. On reaching him Padfoot turned back into Sirius, not wanting another bonk on the nose.

"James." Sirius called, shaking him "James. Come on you great lump! Wakey wakey!"

"It's not working." Remus said, crawling up to the other side of James. He had used Sirius' voice as a guide.

"Obviously." Sirius said "I think operation: DESPRATE needs to come into play." Remus rolled his eyes. Operation: DESPRATE was used only about once a year, usually when James was lying unconscious in the Hospital Wing after a rough game of Quiditch. The sad thing was that it usually worked. Sirius got close by James' ear.

"James! Wake up! Remus is kissing Lily!" Sirius could feel Remus' glare; they usually Snape's name. Sirius' mischievous smile soon changed to a thin line of worry. Operation: DESPRATE had always worked, yet this time James had not even stirred.

"It was worth a try." Remus suggested, but he trailed off. They were both of age, and very bright. They understood that whatever was happening to them was not good.

After a few minutes of silence, Remus voiced something he had been obviously thinking about. "What do you think happened to Peter?" Sirius remained silent for a moment.

"I think he heard the sounds of the fight." he said started slowly "It might be possible that he went for help….." Sirius trailed off. Neither Marauder wanted to voice his real opinion, yet had they done so, they would have found it was the same.

_Had Peter abandoned them? _

Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a very bright light throwing itself into the room. Remus and Sirius both threw their hands over their faces to block out the light. Eventually, after much eye watering and blinking, the hands were lowered and the light been gotten used to. It was only then that they saw the reason that James hadn't woken. His entire right side was covered with blood. Remus glanced over at Sirius. His face was as pale as James' was, and his hands were shaking.

"Sirius-" Remus started to whisper, but just then the door clanged open, and in marched a hooded, cloaked, figure flanked by two smaller figures similarly dressed.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" a cold voice started from under the hood. Remus started. He had heard that voice before. "The infamous Marauders. You, I believe, have been caught."

"Thank you Captain Obvious." Sirius muttered. Remus groaned. He didn't know who man was, but his voice made him flinch away. He knew that this man was not to be messed around with.

"Do not trifle with me Black." the voice snarled.

"Why ever not Lucius?" Sirius snarled back with more ferocity. Remus mentally slapped himself. Of course it was Lucius Malfoy. No one else had such a cold voice. Malfoy had stilled.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked, some of the menace disappearing. Sirius half smirked.

"1- I'd know your voice anywhere. 2- I'd know your stance anywhere. 3- I know you've been sneaking into the Castle to recruit young death eaters."

"How could you know that?" Sirius grinned rather dog like.

"A Marauder never reveals his secrets." Malfoy acted so fast, neither of them could react. He stepped forward and swiftly backhanded Remus across the face. It sent him sprawling.

"For your impudence." Malfoy told Sirius, who was shaking with rage. He then turned to his two counterparts. "Wake him." he said grandly, gesturing to James. Sirius scrambled to his feet and stepped in front of the two hooded lackeys.

"Over my dead body." he growled. Malfoy suddenly lunged. He grabbed Remus by the hair and dragged him to his feet. A wand materialized in his hand and was held to Remus' exposed throat.

"Maybe over your dead body, Black, but will it be over your friend's?" Sirius froze. He moved aside slowly. One of the hooded figures kept his wand on Sirius, while the other bent over James. As soon as James had regained semi- consciousness, tight cords bound his hands behind his back. That brought him fully back to reality. James started struggling, than stopped when he saw three hooded figures, two of which holding his friends at wand point.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking from Sirius, to Remus, to Sirius again.

"You remember our old friend Malfoy." Sirius said, nodding in the direction that Malfoy was standing. James immediately stiffened. He remembered Malfoy alright. Malfoy was in his seventh year at Hogwarts. James was in his first. James was a new chaser on the Gryffindor Quiditch team, while Malfoy was the captain and chaser of the Slytherin team. James was better than Malfoy, and Malfoy had hated him for it. Close to the end of the year. Malfoy had cornered James alone in the halls. James was in the Hospital Wing for a week after.

"Yeah," James growled "I remember." Malfoy smiled, and, after throwing Remus roughly to the ground, stalked to where James lay. He paused for a moment, looked James up and down, and then smiled. The kick to James' bloody side was hard and fast. Even Remus, who picked up everything, didn't see it. James gasped, but did not cry out. Malfoy snarled.

"Still as stubborn as ever aren't you?" He smiled "How excellent."

**Tada! I have no idea how long this will be. I have no idea when I'll next post (going on vaca tomorrow for two weeks). REVIEWS HELP MOTAVATION WISE just so you know. Love y'all!-bp**


End file.
